June 29, 2009

Google Lost In Real-Time Space

Here is a parable about Google
that its executives seem to have forgotten: There once was a Web site
so good that although all it ever did was send people away, they kept
coming back, over and over and over again. Only to be sent away again.

In fact, the only reason people keep coming back to this
site is because it does such a great job of sending them away. This
site has been so successful at sending people away, that it’s been able
to do very well with advertising: ~$15 billion.

But Google has become so preoccupied with matching Twitter’s
real-time search capabilities that it is losing sight of its primary
mission, which is to provide meaningful search results. While none of
its traditional competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo are likely to shave many points from its lead in search market share, Facebook (which suffers from its own form of Twitter-envy) may actually be in a better position to capitalize on the resurgent chaos of Google’s search results.